The Christmas Party
by d-kronk
Summary: GC The second story in my 2003 Christmas series. You don't have to read the first story first, but it will definitely make a few things a little more clear. Gil and Catherine decide to come clean at the Christmas Party. GC


Title The Christmas Party

Author Angie

Email hill@grics.net

Rating PG

Disclaimers CSI Crime Scene Investigation does not belong to me, they are 

the property of CBS, Alliance Atlantis, Jerry Bruckheimer and the wonderful 

actors who portray them.

Author's Notes Welcome to December 11 of the Graveshift December 

Challenge. This is part two of my holiday series… it isn't completely necessary to read part one, "Hostage Crisis", but it will certainly help. As promised this is much fluffier then the last fic. Many, many thanks to Marianne for the wonderful beta. 

Spoilers Nothing really

Distribution The GraveshiftCSI Homepage, www.graveshiftcsi.com ... all 

others please ask.

*~*~*~*

Gil paced back and forth in the living room looking at his watch for the fourth time. "Catherine!" He called up the stairs, "we're running really late. Everyone is going to be waiting for us. Are you almost finished up there?" Not getting a response he waited a bit longer before trying a different tactic. "At least let me come up, maybe I can help you speed things up."

"Don't you dare come up here Gil Grissom." Catherine yelled back down the stairs. "I'll be down in just a minute." Catherine quickly grabbed her purse and took a last glance in the mirror. The angry red gash in her forehead a reminder of the events of the last twenty four hours. She gently shook her head and turned to leave the room. Quietly descending the stairs, she walked into the living room, stopping in the doorway. "You are looking nice tonight, Mr. Grissom."

Gil turned at the sound of her voice and felt his jaw drop open. "How do you do that?"

Catherine looked down at her outfit before looking back at Gil. "How do I do what?"

"Manage to take my breath away every time I see you." Gil walked towards her taking her hands in his and holding them out as he took a closer look. "You are absolutely stunning. Are you sure you want to go to this party? Right now I'm not feeling like sharing you with the others."

Catherine smiled at Gil's statement. It had taken him a long time to open up to her and even longer to start revealing his feelings. "And how would we explain our absence?"

"We wont. Let them try and figure out what happened." Gil chuckled as he replied. "So maybe that isn't the best idea I've had."

"It's a great idea, just not plausible. Besides we have to work tonight, they'd track us down pretty easily in a few hours." Catherine moved closer to Gil, feeling his arms wrap around her. She followed his moves, linking her hands behind his back, listening to the beating of his heart. "I love this."

"Love what?"

"Being in your arms. Just the feel of your arms around me. You make me feel safe and loved, and I love it. I could spend my life like this." Catherine lifted her head, looking at Gil. 

"One of the perks of telling everyone is we don't have to worry about getting caught in the office anymore." Gil continued at the look on Catherine's face. "I don't mean like that," he smiled. "I was being completely innocent with that statement, I meant we could hug once in a while. Maybe stand like this when one of us is having a bad case, if we were really lucky a quick kiss on occasion. Your mind just automatically goes into the gutter, doesn't it?" Gil smiled.

"I can't help it, I like my mind wandering into the gutter when I think about you. We really do need to get going." Catherine reluctantly pulled herself out of Gil's arms and walked to the doorway, grabbing her purse and the small leather duffle waiting by the door. Noticing that Gil didn't follow her, she turned to see Gil still standing in the doorway where she had left him. "Are you coming?"

Gil shook his head and followed Catherine's path. "Sorry, my mind was in the gutter with yours. Did I tell you how much I like that dress? I haven't seen this one before, did you get it when you bought that shirt you were wearing yesterday?"

Catherine shook her head as she explained. "Actually Lindsey picked it out a couple months ago, and I've had it hiding in the back of my closet since then. I wanted to wait for something special to wear it. She keeps gravitating towards blue clothing lately, she says it matches our eyes."

Gil nods his head and takes the duffle from Catherine's hand before opening the door.

"I can carry that, Gil. It's not heavy."

"That's all right I got it."

Catherine smiled and let Gil carry her bag as he ushered her out of the house and into the awaiting vehicle.

*~*~*~*~

Gil pulled the Denali to a stop at the restaurant but didn't get out of the car right away. "Wait a minute." Gil said before reaching for Catherine's hand. "I'm going to miss this."

"You don't have to miss anything, Gil. You can hold my hand whenever you want, you know that."

"I know. It's the aloneness I'm going to miss. Having you to myself. Knowing that what we have together, it's going to become office gossip. I just don't want the gossip to cheapen how the others see us. I'm sure that…"

"Gil," Catherine interrupted. "Everything is going to be fine. Besides, they already gossip about us. We'll just be confirming some of the stories that are being spread."

"What?! I haven't heard any gossip…" Gil trailed off as he thought for a moment. "I guess I don't hear most of the gossip do I?"

Catherine smiled as she shook her head in agreement. "Let's get in there. I'm hungry and I want a glass of wine with dinner and if we wait much longer it's going to be to late for either of us to have a drink and still work tonight." Catherine let her hand slip out of Gil's and turned to open the door. She slid out of the vehicle and met Gil in front of the SUV.

Gil placed his hand on the small of Catherine's back as he led her into the restaurant. The two made their way through the busy building, heading to the party room in the back that had been reserved for the team. Reaching the doorway, Gil paused as he watched the festivities in the room. 

Catherine stopped as she felt the pressure on her back lessen. Looking back over her shoulder, she watched as Gil took in the room. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" She questioned, hoping to get the answer she was waiting for.

Gil smiled his response. "Let's go share our news." He pressed his hand to her back again and they moved across the room towards the two vacant chairs between Brass and Warrick.

Catherine smiled up at Gil before sitting in the chair he had pulled out for her. She waited for Gil to take his seat before saying anything. "So, what did we miss?" Catherine watched the others looking at her, everyone remaining silent. "What?" Her hand instinctively rose to the gash on her head, wishing that it was healed enough that she could somehow try to cover it. 

"You look amazing, Cath. You should definitely wear that dress more often." Warrick replied from her side as he reached up to remove her hand from in front of her face.

Catherine turned to smile her thanks to Warrick before looking back at the people around the table. "Wo, what did we miss?" Catherine repeated, hoping to get a reply this time.

"We were just talking about last night. Or more appropriately I was avoiding questions about what happened last night." Brass told them. 

"Are you all right to work tonight, Cath." Nick asked, his voice filled with concern. 

"Do you think Gil would let me work tonight if I wasn't? I wanted to go in last night and work on some paperwork but I was outvoted three to one." Catherine said as she darted mock glares to Gil and Brass. Catherine was about to continue talking when she noticed the room was looking back and forth between her and Gil. "What?"

No one said anything for a few minutes, finally Warrick spoke up. "I don't think Gil has ever stopped you from doing anything you really wanted to do. If you had thought you could work last night there is no way Gil or Brass could have stopped you. You'd have charmed your way right through their objections, we've all seen you do it and we've all fallen victim to it as well." Warrick was fully smiling by the time he finished, as was all the other victims at the table.

Catherine started laughing as she took in everyone's facial expression. "Well I'm feeling much better tonight. No more headaches or dizzy spells. The doctor said as long as I wasn't having numerous spells of dizziness I'd be fine to work tonight. But enough about me, can't we talk about something else?"

*~*~*~*

Gil smiled as he watched his team relax while the enjoyed the evening. He took a sip of the wine Catherine had ordered for them before looking down to watch her hand as it caressed his leg. Moving his free hand down to grasp hers, he leaned over to whisper in her ear. "Are you having a good time?"

Catherine closed her eyes as she took in his question, smiling slightly before turning her head to answer. "I am. Thank you for agreeing to come with me tonight. Do you think anyone will comment? Or are we going to have to say something first?"

"I think it's going to depend on how many more drinks they get before we need to leave for work." Gil was about to continue when he was interrupted by the restaurant's servers bringing in their meals. 

Catherine looked down at her plate as it was set in front of her, and then looked over at Gil's. "Gil?"

He didn't say anything, he simply nodded his head as he lifted his plate from the table and traded meals with Catherine.

"Thanks."

The two continued eating in silence, watching as the others chatted around them as they ate their meals. Catherine looked over at Gil, enjoying that she could just watch him without worrying about getting caught staring at the man. Taking another bite of her eggplant parmesan, she moaned softly in delight and quickly put some more of the food on her fork. "You should try this, Gil. It's simply wonderful." She held her fork out to Gil, to let him sample the food.

Gil leaned towards Catherine, letting her feed him the dinner he had ordered earlier. "That is great. I wish I had thought about ordering it for dinner." He quickly leaned away from Cath, before her light swing could connect with his shoulder. "Do you want to try some of this? It's very good as well." Gil changed topics quickly and soon had a forkful of food for Catherine to try. Gil saw the look on Catherine's face and sighed again. Before she could ask him he had switched their plates again.

The two picked up their forks to begin eating again when the overwhelming silence in the room finally hit them. Looking up simultaneously, they both took in the numerous faces staring at them.

"Care to explain what this is?" Sara asked.

"Oh my God!" Greg almost shouted before Gil or Catherine could answer Sara's question. "You two were on a date last night!"

Gil and Catherine remained silent as recognition came to the others faces. 

"Who has December?" Warrick asked aloud.

Nick quickly spoke up, "I do. How much is in the pool by now?"

Greg started calculating, "Five dollars a month for fifteen years? Umm…damn should be at nine hundred bucks by now."

"All right!" Nick exclaimed.

"You guys care to explain what it is that you are talking about?" Gil asked as he listened to the conversation going on around him.

Warrick had a chagrined look on his face as he answered. "Well about fifteen years ago there was a little pool started around the lab, trying to figure out when you two would finally hook up. Whoever got the month wins the pool?"

"And this has been going on for fifteen years? What happened…. oh yeah." Catherine abruptly stopped, not continuing her train of thought. "What makes you think that we 'hooked up' in December?"

"The evidence." Nick, Sara and Warrick all answered at once.

"What evidence?" Catherine replied with a grin on her face as she slipped her hand under the table and moved it over to Gil's hand.

"Switching dinners to start with," Greg began.

Brass spoke up next, "Sharing bites of each other's forks."

"Not to mention the fact that you are holding hands under the table as we speak, and have off and on through this entire party." Warrick said as he pointed under the table.

"I don't think you are answering the question," Gil started explaining. "Catherine didn't ask for proof that we were dating, she asked for proof that we began dating in December."

"The way you two are hanging on each other? Why shouldn't we believe you just started dating?" Brass carefully asked his questions, hoping the others wouldn't figure out that he knew more then he was telling. The talk he had the previous night with the two had certainly been enlightening.

"The first time, or this time?" Catherine asked with a smile on her face.

"The first time?" 

Catherine laughed out loud as every member of the night shift questioned her answer.

"I think you two need to start explaining a few things." Brass said in a serious tone, though he was sure his eyes would give him away.

The night shift crew all turned to look at Catherine and Gil, waiting in anticipation of their story.

"Does everyone in this room really believe that the two of us have never dated before? I've known Catherine since she first came to Vegas. I had been in town maybe a month when we first met. She had just started working at this little restaurant I used to go to all the time. We were immediately drawn to each other and began dating shortly after we met."

"Then what happened…" Greg started to question, before stopping when Jacqui and Sara both hit his shoulder.

"Would you just stay quiet and let them tell their story, before they change their minds." Jacqui told Greg before turning her attention back and saying, "Please continue."

Catherine was about to continue when they were interrupted again. This time by the wait staff, entering the room to began clearing the table. Catherine remained silent as she waited until they were in private again. She may have wanted to let their friends know they were dating, but that didn't mean she wanted perfect strangers knowing their story. 

"The beginning of that relationship was wonderful. But we were too young. Gil was just starting his career in the lab, I was trying to save money so I could start classes at UNLV. Then I got the bright idea that the only way I was going to get enough money for school and still have time to study and go to work was to find another job. That's when I started dancing. The money was great, but it definitely caused more problems then it was worth. Gil hated it. And the more he protested, the harder I fought to keep working there. Eventually we started spending less time together and then we just stopped seeing each other. We didn't really break up, neither of us ever said the words. Then a few years later I was in class and our guest lecturer turned out to be Gil."

"I found out about a job opening in the lab, and talked Catherine into applying for the position." Gil finished for her.

"We've gone to that restaurant every year since then. Who knew our anniversary date last night would turn into a hostage situation? It was definitely not the night we had planned." Catherine closed her hand tighter around Gil's as she thought about the previous night. Tears involuntarily sprang to her eyes as Rudolph's words began echoing through her mind. "I'm sorry," she said as she quickly stood up and left the room.

Gil stood up and ran after Catherine, leaving a stunned silence in the room behind them.

Everyone turned to Brass, the only person left in the room that had been at the scene last night.

"I can't tell you guys the details about what happened. You know that. It isn't even my case anymore, the sheriff handed it over to day shift as soon as he found out that Gil and Catherine were in the restaurant. All I know is that the suspects escaped and still haven't been caught. When I talked to Gil about what happened, got a statement from him, he was holding back from me. One of the criminals called himself Rudolph, he was the one that talked to the police…" Brass thought back to the night before, replaying the words he had heard over the phone. The words Rudolph had whispered to Catherine. The shakiness in Catherine's voice when she talked to him later over the phone. "Neither would confess to me what exactly he had been saying, but from what I could hear it was extremely tense in there, and Rudolph quickly figured out exactly which buttons to push on Gil and Catherine."

No one said anything as they thought about what Brass had just said.

*~*~*~*

Gil caught up with Catherine seconds before she could slip into the restroom. "Come here." He said as he wrapped her into his embrace. He guided them away from the restroom doors until he found a dark corner that looked as if I might offer them a bit of privacy. He ran his hands up and down Catherine's back as she began shaking. The words started flowing out of him as he comforted Catherine, not thinking about what he was saying just trying to comfort her.

Catherine quickly pulled back as his words suddenly hit her. "What did you say?"

Gil's face was contorted in confusion as he ran through the words he had whispered to Catherine. A smile broke out on his face with realization. "I love you."

"You've never said that before."

"I know."

"Even when we dated years ago you never…"

"I know," Gil said as he placed a finger on her lips to keep her silent. "You've made me open my heart. I don't say those words easily. You know that."

"I love you too." Catherine said as she lifted her face up for a kiss.

Gil pulled back after their brief kiss and looked at Catherine. "We can leave if you want. Go and get a cup of coffee before we go to work."

"No. Let's go back in. We owe them the end of our story."

"Are you sure?"

Catherine nodded her head. "I'm sure. I can't let what happened last night…"

"You don't have to be strong. I know you were scared, Catherine. So was I. It's a natural reaction."

"I just don't want the others to think…"

Gil shook his head. "I love that about you," Gil said with a smile. "Let's go back in there before they send out a search party for us." 

"Just a minute. I need to go in the bathroom first, I'm sure I'm just a mess right now."

"Your beautiful," Gil said without hesitation and was about to continue when he saw the look on Catherine's face. "I'll wait here for you."

Gil watched as Catherine entered the restroom, leaning back against the wall as he waited. He glanced away from the door and jumped slightly when he saw Jacqui heading his direction.

"What are you doing here?"

Jacqui held up her purse before saying anything. "I know Catherine didn't bring her purse with her when she left the room. I just figured by now she might be wanting to touch up her make-up and…"

"Thank you. I didn't think to bring her purse when I followed her."

"Men never do. I'll be back in a second." Jacqui slipped into the restroom and was back in the hallway minutes later. "She'll be out in just a few minutes. I'm heading back to the party." 

Gil didn't have to wait long after Jacqui left before Catherine came back into the hallway, looking as gorgeous as ever. Gil didn't say anything as Catherine walked to him, her hand comfortably sliding into his. He led her back to the party room, neither needing to say a word.

Catherine blushed as the room became silent when they stepped into the doorway. She felt Gil's hand pull slightly on hers and they again walked across the room towards their chairs. This time under more scrutiny then earlier. They slipped into their chairs.

"Sorry…" Catherine began but Gil stopped her before she could say anything else.

"Don't apologize." He whispered in her ear before turning back to the others. "Where were we? Oh yeah… our relationship. I'm sure it wont be a surprise to anyone to find out that I didn't really want to let everyone know. And it's not that I'm ashamed of Catherine or our relationship. I just didn't feel that our personal life was anyone else's business. Last night we were talking about finally letting everyone in, no matter the consequences. Then everything else happened."

"We didn't have much of a choice after that." Catherine continued, grateful that Gil had spoken first. "We knew the rumors that would be spreading would be out of control, so we wanted to tell everyone here tonight before you had a chance to hear anything. Yes we are dating and no this is not our first date, neither was last night. We aren't living together, I'm not pregnant." Catherine trailed off. Not sure what else needed to be said.

Gil quickly spoke up before anyone could respond. "And the two of us have shift tonight so we need to get going. You guys enjoy the party." Gil stood again, pulling Catherine up as well. He didn't get more then two steps before he was stopped by the sound of Nick's voice.

"So are you going to tell us who won the pool?"

Catherine smiled as she turned around to answer. "The pool was for what month we 'hooked up' right?" She saw the nods and continued. "I assume you want to through out the first time we dated since that was before this little bet began. Congratulations to whoever had January of this year." Catherine turned back around and walked out of the room with Gil. Jacqui's squeal of delight was the last thing they heard as they left they restaurant.

*~*~*~*

Gil opened the door for Catherine but stopped her before she could get in the Denali. "You all right?"

Catherine smiled as she brought her arms up around Gil's neck. "I'm great. They seemed happy for us."

"They did."

"I was hoping for some mistletoe though. Nothing is better then kissing under the mistletoe."

"I'll have to get some for my office," Gil said as he leaned in for a kiss. "And both our homes. But how about a non-mistletoe kiss for now?"

Catherine's smile grew as Gil's lips firmly pressed into hers. His body coming into full contact with her as he leaned in, deepening the kiss.

*~*~*~*

Warrick stopped in the doorway to the restaurant, watching the scene in front of him. Smiling, he turned around and walked back into the restaurant. His congratulations for the couple could wait a while longer.


End file.
